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The Culver City Council will be holding a Special Meeting on Thursday, July 16 at 7:00 pm to consider extending the current interim rent control and tenant protection. The meeting will be virtual. The current measures were implemented in August 2019 for a period of 12 months. A proposed extension would last until October 31. On June 11, 2020, the Council decided to consider a permanent local rent control and tenant protection program. At the meeting, they will also take up what should be included in such a program. If you want to submit...
The Culver City Observer has obtained a copy of a letter being delivered to city hall this week the newly formed "Culver City Coalition for Fiscal Responsibility." The letter is as follows: Dear Honorable Mayor, Vice-Mayor, Council Members and Staff: Re: Realignment of City Budget due to COVID-19 Shutdown and Losses in Revenue In light of the pandemic and its devastating impacts at all levels of society, the Culver City Coalition for Fiscal Responsibility (CCCFR), comprised of local residents, b...
On May 1, the Los Angeles County Registrar/Recorder's office qualified the proposed ballot measure to allow voters to decide the issue of rent control. The measure will appear on the November ballot. If passed, the ballot measure would reverse the City Council's decision to freeze residential rents for one year pending the review of a possible rent control ordinance and would require voter approval for any action on rent control. The contentious issue began when the city council approved a so ca...
It's been a long time since Culver City residents were so moved to sign petitions for a ballot initiative but they have done it for rent control. Armed with a briefcase -- apparently containing the signatures -- handcuffed to his wrist, Ron Bassilian, president of Protect Culver City Political Action Committee, presented Culver City Clerk Jeremy Green this week with a petition signed by over 4100 people, far more than the 2801 signatures required for the ballot initiative. If passed, the ballot...
Monday night city council proposed allowing minors and non-registered voters on city commissions and boards. We at Protect Culver City are vocally opposed to the idea. We see it not as an extension of the franchise, but a disenfranchising of Culver City residents and voters by means of court-packing. Indeed, it’s court packing of the worst kind – by using impressionable children as political pawns. Culver City Unified was already embroiled in scandal under Kelly Kent, when she used school dis...
Dear Editor, We are currently circulating a ballot initiative among Culver City voters, requiring voter approval for rent control. We only have a couple months left to secure the 2800 signatures needed to get it on the November ballot. In an effort to meet our goal, we are bringing on a professional signature gathering company to help us get signatures, starting tomorrow. Collecting signatures is a time intensive process. Given our infant state as a PAC, we just don’t have the infrastructure t...
The last item on the City Council’s agenda could eventually be a big deal down the line for the city. But not right now. A proposed measure brought before the City Council by several residents to be considered was put aside for a rainy day. Whenever you say rent control in Culver City, it figures to resonate with residents on both sides of the fence. Protect Culver City, a grassroots organization of residents and business owners, is in the middle of this latest insurgency to fight the rent control ordinance the City Council passed earlier t...
At the City Council meeting on Nov. 18 at 7 p.m., the council plans to hold a discussion of a proposed initiative measure regarding rent control submitted to the city clerk by the group known as Protect Culver City. The initiative, should it qualify for the ballot would prohibit the city council from enacting any interim or permanent rent controls in the city without the approval of voter. The measure would reverse the councils approved implementation of the rent freeze. The council meeting will be held in the Mike Balkman Council Chambers at...
A recently formed group called “Protect Culver City” gave notice of intent to the City Council proposing amendments to Culver City Municipal Code, relating to a prohibition on passing of rent control without a vote of the people. The proposed amendments are as follows: Section 1. Statement of Findings and Purposes (a) The City Council of Culver City, California has passed an urgency ordinance establishing rent control at 3% per year because they believe that there is going to be an increase of 5,749 new employees to the local job market ove...
Dear Editor, We are deeply troubled, though unfortunately not surprised, by Culver City council’s 4-1 decision to pass last night’s 3% 12-month rent freeze urgency ordinance. Regardless of one’s opinion on rent control, council’s lack of transparency and dialogue in passing this ordinance should concern all residents. Many multifamily owners tried to argue for a good faith compromise on the rent freeze, invoking other local cities like Glendale and Long Beach. Council’s consultants pointed o...
Culver City approved a temporary rent control measure early Tuesday. Despite objections for many apartment owners the freeze will be in place for twelve months. The vote was 4-1 with Vice Mayor Goran Eriksson opposing the move. As expected, the comments and debate lasted well into Tuesday morning The city council capped annual increases to 3% in buildings built on or before February 1, 1995. Tenants in those properties will have just-cause evictions protections as well, meaning a landlord can't remove them unless certain conditions are met,...
By Protect Culver City Political Action Committee On July 15, Culver City residents created a new PAC, Protect Culver City: an association of residents and business owners concerned with the current trajectory of our city council. Our beginnings can be traced back to the night of June 24, when the council decided 4-1 to phase in rent control in Culver City. It's the manner they did this that should concern everyone. None of the Councilmembers ran for office on this agenda. They gave the minimum legally required warning that this was coming...
Responding to a well-orchestrated campaign to “Protect Culver City Renters,’” the City Council voted 4-1 this week to move forward on a 12-month rent freeze. At Monday night’s meeting that stretched till 1 a.m., the council rebuffed local apartment owners, directing staff to draft a rent-freeze ordinance with a 3% cap on rent increases. The Council is expected to vote on the proposed ordinance in August. Councilman Daniel Lee -- who took part in a rally in support of renters outside City Ha...
Based on the public response to a proposed "Rent Freeze" a large crowd of renters and apartment owners is expected at Monday's council meeting. The discussion will include the "Rent Freeze" (Temporary Moratorium on Residential Rental Increases) and Other Tenant Protections. A group calling itself Protect Culver City Renters submitted a flyer which is included in the council's agenda. The group does not reveal any information about who they are, who their members are, how many members they had,...
Dear Council Members, I have owned a small 4-unit apartment building in Culver City for over 30 years. I depend on rental income for my living expenses. My living expenses increase every year. I maintain my apartment units in great condition. I am in the expensive process of completely renovating all units and building exterior. Placing a moratorium on rent increases fails to account for increases in maintenance costs. The costs for trash collection, cleaning, gardening, security lighting, fire inspections, painting, flooring, appliances,...
The City Council will hold a discussion of options regarding a rent freeze (moratorium on rent increases), at the council meeting on Monday, June 24 at 7:00 PM at city hall. Many residents see this as a precursor to rent control. Social media has exploded with comments on both sides of the issue and a large crowd is expected at the meeting Those who are unable to attend the meeting but wish to provide the City Council with written comment may do so by any of the following means BEFORE 4:00 p.m. on June 24, 2019: 1. By MAIL to the City Clerk,...
By Ron Bassilian Another day, another camp. The latest vagrant camp has emerged on Inglewood Blvd. under the 90 freeway, by the very upscale Sunkist Park. First, it's a couple of tents, then more, then it becomes a city in its own right - entitled to city services such as sanitation clean up, and soon we have a permanent camp with property rights. These camps are a breeding ground for petty crime, drugs, and disease such as scabies and staphylococcus. Recently, Dr Drew warned us of the...
By Ron Bassilian Special to the Observer Another day, another camp. The latest vagrant camp has emerged on Inglewood Blvd. under the 90 freeway, by the very upscale Sunkist Park. First, it’s a couple of tents, then more, then it becomes a city in its own right - entitled to city services such as sanitation clean up, and soon we have a permanent camp with property rights. These camps are a breeding ground for petty crime, drugs, and disease such as scabies and staphylococcus. Recently, Dr Drew warned us of the “epidemic typhus” which we haven...
Friends, before I leave on a well-deserved vacation, I would like to enlighten you all on some problems that are easy to verify. According to California State Senator Moorlach, California is ranked 42nd in financial soundness. The Golden State has 58 counties and Los Angeles County is ranked 47th for financial soundness. Culver City Unified School District is ranked 831 out of 940 districts in the entire state for fiscal soundness. Finally, looking at our state’s 482 cities, we see Culver C...
By Ron Bassillian With less than a month to the election, Prop. 10, the “California Local Rent Control Initiative,” is waking up as the sleeper issue of the state. Prop. 10 is a repeal of the 1995 Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, which protects home and property owners from overarching rent-control laws. The existing Costa-Hawkins law has three main protections: it exempts single family homes, duplexes and condominiums from rent control; it grants the right to raise rents on vacant units to market rates, and it exempts any building ere...
The powerful California Association of Realtors is stepping-up its campaign for voters to approve Prop. 5 on the statewide November ballot but reject Prop. 10. The upcoming election is “critical to addressing California’s housing crisis through the protection of homeownership and private property rights across the state,” the realty trade group said in a written statement. CAR is backing Prop. 5, the “Property Tax Fairness Initiative,” which it says would create new homeownership opportunities by generating more sales of single-fa...
DEAR DAVE: My husband and I are getting divorced. He has a good job and wants to keep our house, so he says that he’ll make all of the future mortgage payments if I agree to sign a “quitclaim deed” that would give my half-interest in the home to him. This seems OK to me, but what do you think? ANSWER: I don’t know how much you trust your husband, nor the future of his job that would be needed to make the payments on the house. For legal purposes, though, the lender on the home that you and your...
By Ron Bassilian I suppose my name has gotten out a bit ahead of me. In the past few months I’ve gone from casual observer of Culver City politics, to concerned citizen, to specter of the "Alt Right" that the City Council must defend against in the interest of all things human. It’s gotten a bit out of control, a bit much for any mortal voter to bear. So, I figure you should all know a bit about me, the man who was behind the June 8th Brown Act complaint against our Council, and how a few simple queries on rent control and policing have met...
When you are traveling between Savannah, Georgia and Jacksonville, Florida take a small detour and visit the Mildred Huie Plantation and Museum for an appointment and personal tour, (912) 638-8425. You will be amazed at the art collection and St. Simon’s Island. I am activating a contest Theo and I had several years ago. Perhaps you remember our “Where is Herman Cain These Days?” contest. The person to get to the newspaper office (4346 Sepulveda) with the correct answer could win a 2017 De So...
In Georgia’s De Kalb County Hillary Clinton received more than 78 percent of the votes cast for president in 2016. I hope Councilmember Jim Clarke’s ears are on, because for all you Coastguardsmen you have two reunions coming up, the first being April 25 through April 28 in Cape May, New Jersey. Everyone is welcome,especially, those who served on the Bibb. Contact Lloyd Hensley at (865) 384-6254. There is also al Coast Guard Reunion in Minneapolis on June 10. Call Chris at (952) 935-9065. If...
